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To drive lasting innovation, you'll need the appropriate mindset, skills and tools, Jonathan Vehar writes. You might be able to make some progress if you have only two of these three attributes, but problems will likely arise, he writes. For example, if you have the right mindset and tools but lack the proper skills, then your innovation efforts will lack focus, he writes.

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Most of what you tell employees will quickly be forgotten, writes Bill Rosenthal, CEO of Logical Operations and Communispond. His suggestions include the use of visual tools and repetition. "The more reinforcement you provide and the more the new skills are applied, the more they'll become the default way to work," Rosenthal writes.

Don't forget that the goal of corporate innovation is being the leader in your industry, Jeff DeGraff writes. "This doesn't mean that you have to know everything yourself. Rather, this means that you need to surround yourself with people who know the things that you don't," he writes.

Brainstorming is a powerful tool for driving innovation, but it needs to be conducted in a manner that's free of preconceptions and unthinking constraints, write Alan Iny and Luc de Brabandere. If you're brainstorming the wrong way, you won't come up with useful ideas, they warn. "It's always easier to blame the tool than to question your technique, but would you blame the hammer if you hit your thumb?" they write.

The late comedian Jonathan Winters had a "mad, mad, mad, mad, life" and channeled that turbulence into his work, becoming a paradigm-shifting innovator, Gregg Fraley writes. Winters' biggest success: Using his surroundings to fuel improvisations that were edgier and more inventive than any scripted routine.

It's better to err on the high end when you're first setting a price for your products, according to Steven Dupree, general partner at Richmond Global. "Although it's hard to increase your prices once they're in circulation, you can readily reduce them," he writes. Afterward, you can test lower prices by offering discounts and adjust your strategy as necessary, he writes.